Committee backs parking exemption for Lanai’s Dole Park to preserve town character

The Maui County Housing and Land Use Committee voted 9-0 on Sept. 3, 2025, to recommend passage of Bill 21, CD1, a code amendment to exempt properties within Dole Park in Lanai City from the county's off-street parking requirements.

The amendment would add a section to Maui County Code chapter 19.36B so that parcels in the park and the park's P-1 (public/quasi-public) zoning are treated the same as surrounding Business Country Town (BCT) parcels that already are exempt from those parking rules. Administrative Planning Officer Gregory Faust, with the Department of Planning, told the committee the proposal originated with the Lanai Planning Commission after the department approved a 50% parking reduction for a new bowling-alley project.

Faust said the amendment is aimed at correcting an inconsistency between the park parcels and adjacent business parcels, noting that "Dole Park has a significant number of on-street parking spaces surrounding the park" and that the business-country-town design guidelines already exempt nearby parcels from chapter 19.36B. The bowling-alley project had obtained permits and, under the code's existing 50% reduction provision, would require 21 parking spaces instead of 42; the commission questioned whether those dedicated spaces were necessary given available curb parking.

Puloma Lanai's senior vice president for government affairs and strategic planning, Keiki Pua Dansel, testified in support and said the Lanai Planning Commission unanimously recommended the amendment in December 2024. "This ordinance corrects that inconsistency," Dansel told the committee, adding that Lanai City is a compact, walkable town and that the change aligns with the Lanai community plan.

County staff and the applicant described the off-site parking plan the bowling-alley applicant prepared in case the amendment did not pass: one on-site accessible (ADA) stall and 20 off-site stalls within 500 feet of the property, of which 13 would be adjacent to the Dole Administration Building and seven would be on a grassy parcel across from the former First Hawaiian Bank building. Dansel said the off-site arrangement required a unilateral agreement recorded with the Bureau of Conveyances and that the stalls would be signed and reserved for bowling-alley patrons only if built. She also said the applicant is prepared to construct the spaces if the code change does not pass.

Committee members representing Lanai and other islands voiced support for treating Lanai City's central park as a unique, walkable town center. Councilmember Gabe Johnson said Dole Park is "the water cooler of our community" and opposed putting 21 parking stalls in the park. Several members noted that the area already has substantial public on-street parking; the applicant said about 108 stalls exist on Seventh and Eighth streets surrounding the park.

The committee approved a substitution (an amendment summary form capturing technical and non-substantive edits) and then passed the main recommendation to advance Bill 21, CD1, to the full council on first reading; both votes were 9-0.

If enacted by the council and signed where required, the change would remove the off-street parking requirement for uses within the Dole Park parcels and allow those parcels to be treated like the adjacent BCT-zoned properties that rely on surrounding on-street parking. The bill will proceed to the full County Council for consideration.

Votes: The Housing and Land Use Committee voted 9-0 to substitute to the CD1 version and 9-0 to recommend passage of Bill 21, CD1, on first reading.